(The Center Square) – Neither side of Wisconsin’s political spectrum is happy with the latest pitch from the state’s largest utility to hike power bills.
We Energies this week submitted a plan to the state’s Public Service Commission to raise electricity rates by 14% over two years.
“Our filing reflects the realities that our customers count on us every day for the energy they need. We recognize it’s our responsibility to continue providing safe and reliable energy while keeping customer bills low,” We Energies spokesman Brendan Conway said.
We Energies wants regulators to approve a 9.25% rate increase next year, and a 5.5% rate increase the year after that. The utility says the rate hikes would add around $13 more per-month next year, and an extra $8 or $9 per-month the year after that.
We Energies said the average electric bill for homeowners is currently a little less than $143 a month.
The request brought immediate condemnation from both Republicans and Democrats.
Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany took to social to blast We Energies’ request.
“We Energies wants to raise your electric rates another 14%,” Tiffany wrote in a post. “This comes after the Democrat-appointed PSC under @GovEvers approved over $2 billion in rate hikes in the last five years, a whopping 71% of what utilities requested.”
Tiffany said if elected he would “appoint PSC commissioners who say NO to unreasonable rate hikes.”
Democratic frontrunner Francesca Hong used the request to once again push for her plan to create public-owned utilities in the state.
“Who would you rather have in charge of your essential services: a private company accountable to shareholders, or a public utility that answers to you?” she added on X.
Tom Content with the Citizens Utility Board in Wisconsin said We Energies is not “reading the room” with its latest rate hike request, especially as people in Wisconsin continue to struggle to make ends meet.
“Based on an initial snapshot, it looks like another double-digit increase for We Energies customers, who have already seen their bills rise much faster than inflation over the last four years,” Content told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Twenty years ago, the average We Energies electric bill was just $76 a month. If this latest request is approved, that monthly cost would be more than double that amount.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction spent about $8 million on resetting its standards on the Forward Exam, according to new records released by DPI.
The records came after Dairyland Sentinel asked the Department of Justice last Tuesday to intervene on its public records requests. The DOJ sent a letter to both DPI and Dairyland Sentinel but also stated that it would have to defend DPI in the case of a public records lawsuit.
The records appeared to be one year of the expenses of what has been reported to be a 10-year, $80 million contract between DPI and Data Recognition Corp. to operate the Forward Exam and help desk.
The Center Square was unable to obtain clarity from DPI on if the $8 million was part of that contract, an amended contract or separate from the 2016 contract.
“The DPI holds a massive contract with DRC to manage the Forward Exam,” Dairyland Sentinel Publisher Brian Fraley told The Center Square. “However, the Department cannot use a private vendor to shield itself from public records requests, nor can they use that vendor to prevent citizens from seeing the inner workings of public meetings that altered state education policy.”
DPI also sent Dairyland Sentinel the $396,0000 in expenses from its workshop in the Wisconsin Dells, a document it previously shared with only a select group of reporters that did not include The Center Square, despite requests for that information.
The conference was used to change standards on the Forward Exam.
Dairyland Sentinel still believes there are minutes and recordings from the conference that should be public records that DPI has not released related to its workshop, conducted by Data Recognition Corp. It plans to continue to fight for those records.
The Institute for Reforming Government has called for Wisconsin lawmakers to create a special committee to investigate the workshop and whether it should constitute a public meeting.
Jake Curtis, General Counsel and Director of the CIO at IRG, previously told The Center Square that he believed the 88-member standards-setting group filled with school employees and leaders fits the exact definition of an Ad Hoc Committee and that meetings of that committee should be public and not subject to the non-disclosure agreements signed by conference attendees.
Conference attendees were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements to hide discussions that occurred at the workshop.

(The Center Square) – The Republican sponsors of a bill to enhance penalties for drug dealers near homeless shelters say that Gov. Tony Evers’ veto of the bill continues what they called failed policies against addiction and recovery.
The big would have allowed the maximum penalty for dealing drugs by delivery or intent within 1,000 feet of a homeless shelter to be increased by five years.
“Many of our fellow citizens who are homeless are also struggling with addiction. They need to get on the path of sobriety, but drug dealers preying on them nearby only make their situation worse,” Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, said in a statement after the veto. “The Governor’s shameful veto will prolong a failed approach to homelessness and addiction that keeps people mired in the darkest period of their lives.”
Evers argued that the bill was part of an outdated and archaic approach to criminal justice. He said that the Legislature should instead use an evidence-based approach, which he did not describe.
“I am disappointed the Legislature continues to focus its attention on proposals that do little to improve this landscape when there are serious and urgent needs facing our correctional institutions and our criminal justice system, including aging facilities and a soaring prison population that Wisconsin’s correctional institutions cannot continue to accommodate,” Evers wrote.
The bill would have created something similar to a drug-free school zone around homeless shelters.
“I’m disappointed in Gov. Evers’ veto of SB 610,” Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, said in a statement. “Yet again, it proves how naive the Democrat Party is when it comes to dealing with critical urban issues.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin ranks 35th on a list of states with affordable electricity with an average price of 12.72 cents per kilowatt hour.
North Dakota topped the list with the lowest price of 7.93 cents per kilowatt hour while Hawaii (38.0) and California (27.04) ranked lowest on the list.
The American Legislative Exchange Council ranks the affordability of energy across the country each year and the new report was produced using the most recently available data from 2024.
Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission has continued to approve increase rates since the report in the data.
The PSC approved Jan. 1 increases with a $31.3 million increase settlement to residential rates for electricity and natural gas for Madison Gas and Electric customers over the next two years soon after similar approvals for Alliant Energy and Xcel Energy that amount to $300 million in increases, meaning the three combined increases will be valued at more than $330 million.
“Wisconsin ranks in the bottom half of states in electricity affordability. Its electricity mix is led by natural gas and coal, with nuclear and smaller renewable contributions from solar and hydro,” the report states. “The state operates as an importer of electricity, balancing its generation with regional demand.”

(The Center Square) – A new survey says Wisconsin businesses are thinking about artificial intelligence, but they’re not yet thinking it is a major problem.
Better Business Wisconsin recently released its 2026 Accredited Business Survey that asked business owners across the state about their worries, their challenges and thoughts of AI.
Hiring, costs and finding new customers took the top three spots on the survey’s challenges list.
“Our latest survey shows that Wisconsin businesses are navigating a complex mix of workforce shortages, rising costs, and rapid technological change – while remaining deeply committed to trust, transparency, and quality customer service,” BBB Wisconsin President and CEO Jim Temmer said. “As AI adoption grows, businesses are asking important questions about ethics, accountability, and consumer confidence, and BBB is proud to help lead those conversations.”
The survey says 30% of businesses said finding qualified staff was their biggest challenge. That’s the same number that said finding new customers was their biggest challenge. The survey said 37% of businesses say increasing costs and inflation is their biggest concern.
Just 17% of businesses said making their business visible in AI searches was a problem.
But the survey also said that embracing AI is the number one area of opportunity for Wisconsin businesses.
“As technology rapidly evolves, businesses view AI as both an inevitable evolution and a potential threat. Currently, 50% of BBB Accredited Businesses are not yet using AI, while the other 50% use it primarily for simple applications like writing or editing emails, creating social media posts, drafting website or marketing content, brainstorming ideas, summarizing long documents or messages, and designing simple graphics or images,” The BBB said in the survey. “Notably, half of the respondents believe that AI can help increase their overall business competitiveness.”

(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin special committee is advising Attorney General Josh Kaul’s use of special assistant attorney generals paid for with private funds.
Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, said that the attorneys had salary and benefits paid by the Michael Bloomberg-funded New York University State Energy & Environmental Impact Center.
Felzkowski read that the committee found that the use of those attorneys was not authorized by Wisconsin statute, it was never requested to be allowed in the departments budget and it acts as a unallowable gift from an outside influence. Felzkowski noted that a formal complaint about the issue has not been resolved within 412 days.
“We are deeply troubled by the Department of Justice’s practice of allowing volunteer attorneys paid by out-of-state interest groups to prosecute Wisconsinites. Rather than seeking legislative approval or funding for additional staff, Attorney General Kaul brought in progressive, billionaire funded attorneys who do not answer to the taxpayers of Wisconsin,” the committee said in a statement after hearings on the matter. “The lack of transparency is astonishing, and the taxpayers of Wisconsin have a right to that transparency. The Department of Justice is not for sale in Wisconsin.”
Sen. Melissa Ratcliff, D-Cottage Grove, said the report was false and that the two Democratic members of the committee were not consulted on the final report, instead receiving the committee’s report on Monday.
“This report was not done in a collaborative manner,” Ratcliff said.
She called the committee “political theater” instead of a responsible use of time.
The report advised the Legislature to put new rules in place to prevent the special interest money from being used to prosecute Wisconsinites in the future.
It noted that one of the special attorneys was not licensed to practice law in Wisconsin at the start of the attorney’s tenure and that responsive documents to the committee’s questions were not received from Kaul’s office.
Committee member Jodi Habush Sinykin, D-Whitefish Bay, said that the topic could have been addressed by legislation from Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Gillett, that did not make its way out of committee.
Wimberger said that his bill was about employees but these attorneys are categorized as volunteers, not employees.
Wimberger said that, if this is allowed, then the DOJ is “for sale,” calling it “very concerning.”

(The Center Square) – A three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that it cannot overturn the state’s congressional maps because it lacks the authority to do so.
The panel of three circuit-court judges said they collectively “do not have the authority to read into a Wisconsin Supreme Court case an analysis that it does not contain.”
The maps challenge was based on stating that the maps were gerrymandered in an unconstitutional case.
The case was reviewed by a group including Dane County Judge Julie Genovese, Milwaukee County Judge Mark Sanders and Outagamie County Judge Emily Lonergan.
A second challenge from the Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy and a group of individual voters will be determined by a panel including Dane County Judge David Conway, Portage County Judge Patricia Baker and Marathon County Judge Michael Moran.
The originally drawn maps were challenged after the 2020 U.S. Census and four maps were submitted to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, including maps from Gov. Tony Evers and the state’s Republican Congress members. Ultimately, the court chose Evers’ maps.

(The Center Square) – Anyone who wants to collect signatures for political candidates in Wisconsin must now live in Wisconsin.
Gov. Tony Evers signed a new law that creates a residency requirement for signature gatherers.
The law follows 2024’s failed recall against Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. In that race, out-of-state crews gathered signatures from voters to try and oust Vos. But many of the people gathering the signatures, and many of the people who signed the recall petitions, were not from Vos’ district or even Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission earlier this month recommended charges against 13 people who gathered those signatures.
State Rep. Jim Hubertus, said requiring the people involved in Wisconsin’s elections be from Wisconsin is a common sense, election integrity issue.
“[The new law is] an important step toward strengthening the integrity of Wisconsin’s election process. This legislation ensures that individuals circulating nomination papers and recall petitions are qualified Wisconsin electors – people who live here, vote here, and have a direct stake in our communities,” he said.
There are exceptions in the new law that allow for people from outside of Wisconsin to get signatures for presidential and vice-presidential candidates. But the law makes it clear that people gathering voter signatures for local and state elections must be from the state.
“This is a commonsense reform,” Piwowarczyk added. “By ensuring that those gathering signatures are Wisconsin residents, we are reinforcing accountability and maintaining public confidence in our elections.”
The proposal passed on a voice vote in the Assembly but faced a party-line vote in the Senate. Senators approved it in February.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed five bills he called anti-LGBTQ bills including bills that would require high school and public college athletic teams to declare if they are for coed, male or female athletes and have that sex defined as their sex at birth.
Evers also vetoed a bill that would create a civil cause of action against health care providers performing gender transition surgery on minors and one that would prohibit medical referrals for minors seeking certain gender medical interventions along with a bill related to how school boards define legal names and pronouns.
“This type of legislation stirs harmful rhetoric, negatively affects Wisconsinites’ and kids’ mental health, emboldens anti-LGBTQ harassment, bullying, and violence, and threatens the safety and dignity of LGBTQ Wisconsinites, especially our trans and nonbinary kids,” Evers said about his vetoes. “Especially in the wake of continued attacks against LGBTQ communities, particularly targeting the trans community, our work to fight this hatred and bigotry is more important than ever. I’m proud to stand with LGBTQ kids and Wisconsinites today and every day.”
Bill authors, however, believe they are protecting athletes and following the public’s desires with Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, citing a 2024 Marquette Poll showing that 76% of Wisconsin residents saying that athletes should only compete on teams matching their gender at birth in his testimony.
“In recent years, instances of biological males competing in female sports and denying them the opportunity to compete on a fair playing field have become prominent in the news,” Hutton wrote in testimony on Assembly Bill 100. “As an example, an incident at a Sun Prairie school in 2023 in which a male student exposed himself to four freshman girls in their locker room, triggering a U.S. Department of Education Title IX investigation, raises further concerns about the ability of girls to feel safe and secure in their locker rooms.”
The WIAA instituted a policy change last year that prevents individuals who were born male from competing against girls in high school sports, Hutton noted.
Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, wrote in testimony that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical interventions to children are being done at a high cost without long-term studies on the impact of the procedures and Senate Bill 405 would give patients recourse for the impact of those procedures later in life.
“Medical accountability should not be a partisan issue,” Nedweski wrote. “We have a duty to ensure that children are protected from experimental treatments that can inflict lasting damage on their bodies and minds as they enter into adulthood.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill that would have required the state to be part of the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship.
Evers called the program a nationwide expansion of private voucher schools while proponents of the legislation say that it simply allows every taxpayer to donate up to $1,700 to help fund education.
“The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ created the first major federal program to effectively redirect public funds to private school tuition through tax incentives,” Evers wrote in his veto. “It is the first-ever federal effort to fund private school scholarships through vouchers the federal government will pay individuals in exchange for donating to organizations that award scholarships to attend private schools.”
Evers said that the tax credit is a redirect of tax money that should be received by the government to pay for programs and instead it is being redirected to private schools.
“Put another way, the federal government is now going to use public funds that should be used for public schools to essentially reimburse donors for helping fund private schools instead,” Evers wrote. “No joke.”
The Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools, however, argued that public schools stand to benefit also.
“The FTCS simply allows taxpayers to make a charitable contribution to the educational entity of their choice,” the group said in a statement. “As public schools have far more students than private schools, public schools stand to gain so much more funding through the FTCS. We see the value of a healthy educational ecosystem in Wisconsin, and the FTCS will help to ensure every student in Wisconsin has the ability and the resources to succeed.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin congressman and candidate for governor Tom Tiffany said Monday that he plans to work with the federal Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to change Clean Air Act rules and end emissions testing in Wisconsin, calling the program both costly and ineffective.
The proposal was brought to Tiffany and the Wisconsin congressional delegation in December by a group including Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield. Vehicle emissions testing is currently required in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha counties because the area was designated a non-attainment zone.
Donovan and Tiffany both spoke Monday in front of the History Hose Tower in Greenfield about the costs of the emissions testing, including both a 1-cent per gallon petroleum tax and an estimated $271.4 million spent by Wisconsin residents from 1984 to 2022-23.
Congressman and candidate for governor Tom Tiffany and a group of Wisconsin legislators are pushing for an end to vehicle emissions testing in 7 counties pic.twitter.com/oZylAJEUYT— Jon Styf (@JonStyf) March 30, 2026
The Wisconsin lawmakers cited advanced technology and a low failure rate of 3.1% and 3.0% in 2021 and 2022 for the program.
“It is not being done in an effective, efficient manner,” Tiffany said. “So, what we should do is set this program aside, try to get a waiver in regards to this, and allocate those resources – both manpower and money – toward things that are actually going to clean the environment because we want to ensure that we have clean air to live in here in Wisconsin.”
Matt Leppard, who owns a repair shop in Eagle, said that the emissions testing ruins the market for used cars with a check engine light on and can lead to costly repairs that need to then be prioritized over safety concerns such as new tires or other expenses for families.
“People should be allowed to drive a safe car,” Leppard said. “They should be able to put a kid in a car and not worry about that being their grocery budget every month. It’s not just the taxpayer that will save money, everybody will save money and it’s not a partisan issue.”
Tiffany said that he would not instead support a subsidy for those who need repairs, saying that would just be another taxpayer cost for a program that has not proven effective.
“Why are we continuing to do this 40 years later if it is ineffective?” Tiffany said.
Rep, Bob Donovan says it’s time to end emissions testing pic.twitter.com/MbIKfIJ7dM— Jon Styf (@JonStyf) March 30, 2026
Donovan said that he marched in St. Patrick Days parades and heard residents speak up there to him, shouting that he should end the emissions tests.
“I think I speak for most of those residents when I say that each of us is willing to do our fair share of what the government asks of us if it makes sense,” Donovan said. “Well, this doesn’t make sense any longer.”

(The Center Square) – The leading candidate in Wisconsin’s race for governor is unhappy with a new law that defines antisemitism and looks to fight it at the University of Wisconsin.
State Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, who is leading the Democratic race for governor, and who calls herself a Democratic Socialist, took to social media recently to criticize a new law that Gov. Tony Evers signed.
“I am disappointed that Gov. Evers has signed into law a controversial definition of antisemitism that will compromise free speech across the state and academic freedom at our universities,” Hong wrote. “AB446/SB445 will likely make criticism of the state of Israel a discriminatory offense.”
The new law uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which is “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
The governor didn’t offer any comments on the new law when he signed it.
But Juliana Bennet, another Wisconsin Democratic Socialist who is looking to replace Hong in the State Assembly, did comment.
“Gov. Evers signed AB446 into law. He did so knowing the Wisconsin GOP’s intent to silence Palestinians & anyone speaking out against the apartheid state of Israel and the genocide Israel is committing in Palestine,” Bennet wrote on X. “I reject Governor Evers’ wrongful decision.”
The new law came from legislation from another Madison lawmaker. State Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, is Jewish. She made the case earlier this year that “antisemitism is real” in Wisconsin.
“This is our opportunity to take a firm stand against antisemitism and to put that definition to be considered. This is guidance that we desperately need at a time when antisemitism is on the rise in our communities,” she said.
Republican Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, last fall said Wisconsin needs clear rules for what is free speech on college campuses, and what is intimidation.
“This definition shines a light on behavior that might otherwise be excused, dismissed or even justified,” Tusler wrote to lawmakers.

(The Center Square) – Only 10 U.S. senators voted against the bipartisan housing bill that restricts large institutional investors from buying up single family homes and requires investors to sell build-to-rent homes within seven years.
Those lawmakers also each received tens or sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2024 election-cycle campaign donations from groups whose profits could drop if the bill becomes law.
Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Ted Budd, R-N.C.; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; all opposed the 21st Century Road to Housing Act.
Their donors include private equity firms, large institutional investors in single family homes, organizations that develop build-to-rent communities, and companies that secure financing for those organizations.
Some senators also received funds from rental housing advocates who publicly opposed the housing bill due to its proposed restrictions.
Due to campaign financing rules, organizations themselves do not donate to the politicians. Instead, their political action committees and employees make the contributions.
Receiving campaign donations from a PAC does not prove that a lawmaker votes or acts according to donor interests. All data is pulled from political donation tracker OpenSecrets.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.:
Tillis’ donor profile shows he received at least $468,916 in campaign contributions from large institutional investors and other interested parties.
His top donor was Blackstone Group, one of the most prominent players in the single-family home rental market. Capital Group Companies, Koch Inc., Rock Holdings, and other organizations donated as well.
Tillis did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind.:
Young received at least $291,755 including from large institutional investors Capital Group Companies and KKR &Co. Multiple advocacy groups that oppose the housing bill’s build-to-rent restrictions, such as the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (Nareit), also made donations.
A spokesperson for Young told The Center Square that Young’s vote was not influenced by those donations, but rather “was based on additional changes he hopes can be made to the package to address the clear barriers to building more housing, including encouraging localities to look critically at burdensome zoning regulations.”
The spokesperson also referred to a bipartisan bill Young introduced, the Identifying Regulatory Barriers to Housing Supply Act, that addresses those issues.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah:
Lee received at least $159,459 from potentially impacted organizations, including Blackstone, KKR &Co., and Koch Inc.
A spokesperson for Lee said that the senator “votes according to his own convictions – in this case, because the bill expanded HUD programs eliminated in previous budget requests by President Trump, directed taxpayer dollars to progressive advocacy networks, pushed the federal government further into local zoning and land-use decisions, and failed to deliver the extensive reforms federal public housing programs require.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas:
Cruz received at least $145,752 from large institutional investors and other potentially impacted parties, including Maury L Carter & Associates, KKR &Co., Blackstone.
In a statement to The Center Square, Cruz laid out multiple reasons why he voted against the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, including zoning changes in the bill and the impact he thinks the build-to-rent restrictions could have on housing supply.
“Lowering housing costs for all Americans is a priority for this Republican Congress, but this bill fell far short of that goal. Although this legislation prevents the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), it only pauses the development until December 31, 2030. My Anti-CBDC Act takes the correct approach by permanently prohibiting the Federal Reserve from ever issuing a CBDC, directly or indirectly. I agree with President Trump that large banks should not be buying single-family homes. Unfortunately, this legislation goes beyond that principle and restricts those hoping to build new rental housing for Americans by requiring build-to-rent homes to be sold within seven years. Restricting the supply of newly built rental units should not be enshrined in law,” Cruz said.
“Additionally, giving the Department of Housing and Urban Development authority to develop zoning and land-use frameworks raises serious concerns. Washington bureaucrats should not dictate zoning decisions for local communities like my hometown of Houston,” Cruz added. “The bill also risked giving a future Democratic administration the ability to impose policies like a rent moratorium by granting the Treasury Secretary broad authority to rewrite key provisions through the regulatory state. I remain optimistic that House Financial Services Chairman French Hill can address these significant concerns through the conference process. I look forward to working toward a final product that actually makes housing more affordable for all Americans instead of expanding the government’s authority to regulate who buys homes.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.:
Scott received at least $135,795 from organizations involved in the build-to-rent sector, including Koch Inc. and Blackstone.
Scott did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.
In early March, he introduced a bill that would create untaxed savings accounts for Americans saving up for a down payment on their first home.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii:
Schatz received at least $131,500 from organizations that oppose the bill due to its build-to-rent provisions, including the Mortgage Bankers Association, as well as Rock Holdings.
Schatz did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.
Schatz had previously told lawmakers that the institutional investor provisions would “demonize people who want to build rental housing for folks.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.:
Paul received at least $89,028 from organizations that could suffer adverse impacts from the bill’s build-to-rent restrictions.
Paul did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.
In a March social media article, Paul said the bill was equivalent to “the surrender of property and contract rights.”
Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.:
Budd received at least $83,525 from interested or potentially impacted groups, including Blackstone, Koch Inc., and the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Budd did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.
He introduced a bill in February that would widen eligibility requirements for the federal Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.:
Johnson received at least $81,662 from institutional investors, including Rock Holdings and Koch Inc.
A spokeswoman for Johnson told The Center Square that “Neither the Senator nor anyone in his office was contacted by those donors.”
“His vote was not influenced by those donations or donors. He voted against the bill for several reasons – many of them laid out in the WSJ column cited below,” she added. “The Senator does not like the government imposing itself into the marketplace and artificially reducing the demand, the number of buyers, and the price homeowners can obtain when they sell their homes.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.:
Tuberville received at least $48,650 in contributions from real estate investment groups that might be adversely impacted by the legislation, including Jim Wilson & Associates.
He did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.
Tuberville had previously explained that his ‘no’ vote on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was not because he opposed the bill, but because he believed the Senate should focus on passing the SAVE America Act – an unrelated Republican voter ID bill – before addressing issues like housing.
What about House lawmakers?
The U.S. House has yet to take up the Senate-passed legislation, but cautionary comments from lawmakers like Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., and Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., indicate the bill will face a tough crowd in the lower chamber.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association will not be subject to open meetings and public records requirements after Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill that would have added that requirement.
The private organization that governs high school athletics for the state’s public and private schools fought the legislation, saying it is private and does not accept tax money.
“I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object the Wisconsin State Legislature forcing a private entity to abide by and comply with the very state public records laws from which the Legislature exempts itself,” Evers wrote. “By the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s own testimony, the organization is committed to transparency, and much of their information is already publicly available.”
Former Gov. Scott Walker vetoed a similar bill in 2015 and Evers vetoed one in 2021 as well.
Proponents of the bill, however, argued that the organization does not make important information available to the public and does not provide enough information when it makes eligibility rulings in particular.
lawmakers that passed the bill argue that the WIAA needs more transparency on its decision-making authority over public high school athletes and schools.
“WIAA’s membership is made up of schools whose boards are subject to open records and open meetings laws, but WIAA is not,” Sen. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, said in testimony on the bill. “When taxpayer dollars are involved, proceedings should be open and honest. While WIAA receives no taxpayer funds, it uses taxpayer funded facilities and is a fixture in our public school system. While exempting referee and pupil records to keep their personal information safe, SB 16 aims to bring to light what is going on behind the scenes at WIAA and increase transparency between the organization and its members, students, and parents.”
The WIAA’s Executive Director Stephanie Hauser told a committee that the group’s eligibility decisions can become controversial and “I think we’re going to get pummeled with them” regarding public records requests.
“This legislation advances even though the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the WIAA is not a government or quasi-government entity,” the WIAA said in a statement after the vote. “SB 16 imposes burdens typically meant for public offices, and we are concerned this will disrupt our ability to effectively serve our member schools and student-athletes.”

(The Center Square) – The Republican Party of Dane County is condemning political violence after a 31-year-old Madison woman was arrested and accused of shooting and killing her former co-worker in a downtown Madison parking garage.
The criminal complaint stated that 31-year-old Diamond Wallace, who is charged with first degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction, worked with 61-year-old victim Christine Jones at a Madison hotel until April 2025.
After that, police believe that Wallace slashed Jones’ tires after accusing Jones of being racist because she supported President Donald Trump, according to WKOW.
It was not clear what motivated the shooting.
“RPDC condemns this killing in the strongest possible terms,” the group said in a statement. “No grievance, no workplace conflict, no personal resentment ever excuses violence. Ever. Some will be tempted to turn this tragedy into a partisan argument or to deflect towards national political debates. We reject that impulse. It is about a woman in Dane County who lost her life.
“We urge every Dane County resident, regardless of background or belief, to recommit to the most basic civic shared responsibility: treating one another as human beings worthy of dignity, safety, and respect for one another.”
Wallace’s cash bail was set at $2 million at a Wednesday hearing, when Wallace appeared via Zoom.
Wallace has a pretrial hearing set for 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Dane County Courthouse.
“As this case moves through the justice system, we call on community leaders, elected officials, and residents alike to reflect on how we can rebuild a culture of respect, accountability, and compassion,” the party said. “Dane County deserves better. Our neighbors deserve better. We must all do better. Be better humans. Choose decency. Reject violence.”
Wallace’s previous felony conviction was from a 2019 charge where Wallace pleaded guilty to resisting an officer with substantial bodily harm and soft tissue injury.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin voters believe that the cost of data centers outweigh the benefits with 69% of those responding to a recent Marquette Poll saying as much.
That’s after 70% said the same thing in a February poll.
One change in those numbers was that more Republicans now oppose data centers while fewer Democrats are now in opposition.
The University of Marquette Law School poll asked 850 registered voters about their preferences from March 11-18.
Large-scale data center projects have popped up across the state in recent years with the tax incentives often hidden in tax increment districts and waiving sales tax on construction materials, something that has led to that $70 million in forgone sales tax in its first two years.
Data centers in Mount Pleasant, Verona, Beaver Dam and Port Washington have been certified by the state to be eligible for the sales tax exemption.
Several bills looking to limit the impact of data centers on energy rates and one looking to block non-disclosure agrees that was backed by comedian Charlie Berens were discussed but did not pass the Legislature before session closed.